Innovative ideas get results. If only I could think of some.

I just read Seth Godin’s blog about ‘Why bother having a resume?’ and it is worthwhile sharing.
So here is my shortened version;

Top students at universities are applying for my internship.

Each of the applications just sends a resume. Sort of, “here are the facts about me, please put me in the pile.” There is no attempt at self marketing.

This is controversial, but here goes: I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all.

Here’s why: A resume is an excuse to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, “oh, they’re missing this or they’re missing that,” and boom, you’re out.

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
Or a reputation that precedes you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Some say, “well, that’s fine, but I don’t have those.”

Yeah, that’s my point. If you don’t have those, why do you think you are remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don’t have those, you’ve been brainwashed into acting like you’re sort of ordinary.

As I said, I find it brilliant and I think this relates to how we do all things in life.

Especially his punch line; “you’ve been brainwashed into acting like you’re sort of ordinary.”

His post confirms what I have been thinking lately.
Most learning brainwashes us into thinking that there are guaranteed ways of doing things and if we just stick to those ways, everything works out fine.
We even ask for that guarantee when we ask for fixed outcomes and benefits of the learning we are about to buy.
With that we hope to buy a recipe for a good life, buy success and the guarantee that we prevent making costly mistakes in real life.

That that is a myth becomes very clear when job hunting and writing resumes.
Most people are stuck with an idea how a resume and job hunting should look like, because that’s how they were taught to do it.
Even if there is overwhelming evidence – and there is!- that their learnt way is not working, they still hardly dare to move away from the learnt way.

Another thing that is blindly obvious from Seth’s post is the limited solutions we can think of when we set out to get what we want.
Not many people could come up with things Seth talks about such as having three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
I wouldn’t even think of finding out who the employer themselves respect and even if I knew I might not have thought of getting letters from them.

To get that smart and effective you need to live, try things out and be okay about egg on your face and a dented ego.
I know, it is only with the encouragement of my live-in personal mind-gym trainer that I see and learn how to do things differently to get better and bigger results.

As a result the selling of our house is being done quite differently. We are taking a Seth Godin tack and that is a very interesting experience for me as I have not done this before.
We are not just sending out the house’s resume in the form of standard ads, we are focusing on effective marketing.
Talking about marketing, we made our Trade-Me/E-bay ad with beautiful photos, some made by Bertie, our friend.

We are really committed to cooperate with the agent to get the best result and that requires that we think too, that we come up with innovative and effective marketing ideas and communicate with her to get her buy-in with what we are aiming to achieve here.

Now that all takes time, a vision and commitment. We are not just passing all the responsibilities over to the agent; we are definitely playing team and I am sure we are all learning from this big time.

One was about having an Open Home on Easter Monday, which is not standard practice.
I never thought of it, just like those applicants of Seth didn’t think of those letters and neither did the agent.
I couldn’t believe that it didn’t even cross our minds, except John’s…. of course.
The agent thought it was a marvelous idea too.
She wants a good result as well, we are all in agreement there, so we are one of the few people who will have an Open Home on that day, which will make us stand out and hopefully increase the interest in our house.

John also made a fact sheet about the house that tells all the relevant things such as when what has been replaced. It shows there has been a lot done to the house and that will give the buyer the confidence that they paid a good price for a quality product, it sets everybody up powerfully to create a good deal.

Looking at it now, that all makes perfect sense.
Would I have thought about that on my own.

No!

Will it have good results?
I am sure it will.

Am I learning heaps?

You bet.

Do I see our Garden of Eden coming closer?

Yes.